Historic overview

  The European Environmental and Contact Dermatitis Research Group (EECDRG) was started in the fall of 1984 and initiated by John Wilkinson,Torkil Menné, Richard Rycroft and Jan Wahlberg. John Wilkinson organized the first meeting of the group in High Wycombe, June1985. This was in effect an informal but fertile exchange of ideas.
At the beginning, major goals of the EECDRG were: formation of the European Society of Contact Dermatitis; joint studies related to the validation of allergens in various patch test series; publication of the new textbook of Contact Dermatitis; and the writing of review articles for the journal Contact Dermatitis.

Since the achievement of these, fresh goals have arisen from new insights in immunology and skin biology, such as: distinction between irritant and allergic reactions; prevention and treatment of allergic contact dermatitis; in vitro vs. in vivo diagnosis; predictive tests in animal and man, improved epidemiology in the field, and development of computer programs for registration of contact dermatitis data.

Jean-Marie Lachapelle.

History of EECDRG